Minister for Finance Thangam Thennarasu released three books on archaeology during the Indus Valley Civilisation Day celebrations organised by the Department of Archaeology at the Keeladi Museum here on Saturday.
At the event, he said anyone born in Tamil Nadu could easily resonate with the name Indus Valley Civilisation both through education and literature. “At least once in our lives we would have heard the names Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Though it was felt that our lives had connection with those findings, we took a long time to pursue it as research,” he added.
During the Ulaga Tamil Semmozhi Maanadu in Coimbatore in 2010, along with epigraphist Iravadam Mahadevan, a gallery with details linking Dravidian civilisation with the Indus Valley civilisation was organised, he recalled.
Though it was a significant beginning, efforts were not taken to prioritise research on the topic, he said. “Though people of the two civilisations lived in different landscapes, research carried out by people such as former IAS R. Balakrishnan revealed to the world that we were related to that civilisation,” Mr. Thennarasu added.
“In an effort not to confine the Keeladi findings to the district and the State, the Keeladi museum was inaugurated, and since then, it has been serving as a doorway to the outer world to understand and learn about the Tamil civilisation,” he stated.
